Physician Assisted Suicide

Assisted Suicide A controversial human rights issue in modern society is the right to die, an issue that has much to do with the way that human beings relate to society at large, the notion that a man has ownership of their own body, and the obligations set forth in the Hippocratic oath and medical ethics. Physician assisted suicide, or the right to die as those in the pro-assisted suicide movement call it, divides two very different kinds of people into two camps. One’s opinion on the subject is entirely related to one’s core values. Whether one values the individual or whether one places more emphasis on the will of the majority has a great impact on one’s beliefs concerning the issue of the right to die. In this essay, I will prove that It is only logical that physician assisted suicide should be legalized and regulated. An issue that comes up repeatedly in the culture war debates of our modern era, is whether or not people possess their own bodies and have the right to do what they will with them. There are those that want to regulate what one is capable of doing to their own vessel. And there are those who believe that human beings own their own body and may do what they will with them. People in the pro-right to die movement tend to be in the latter camp. This premise, that human beings own their own bodies, underlies the entire issue of assisted suicide, as well as many other controversial topics in society today (ERGO). Until society at large accepts that people may do what they will with their own bodies, victimless crimes will always be cause for prosecution. Even if people outside the movement cannot accept the notion that individuals are in possession of their own being at all times, they should be able acc... ... middle of paper ... ...: Norris Lane Press, 2008. Print. "Liberty and Death: A Manifesto concerning an Individual's Right to Choose to Die." Assisted Suicide. Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization. Web. 18 Apr. 2014 . "Physician-Assisted Suicide Does Not Violate Medical Ethics" by Rebecca P. Dick and Ronald A. Lindsay. Problems with Death. David A. Becker and Cynthia S. Becker, Eds. Greenhaven Press, 2006. "Suicide, Euthanasia, and Physician-Assisted Suicide." Death and Dying: End-of-Life Controversies. Sandra M. Alters. 2008 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Quffa, Wedad-Andrada, and Dan-Valeriu Voinea. "Assisted Suicide - Between The Right To Life, The Obligation To Live And Social Acceptance." Contemporary Readings In Law & Social Justice 5.2 (2013): 261-266. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.